Review and forecast: How execs view industry and China's economy

Kitty Fok, managing director of IDC China

Q1: How do you evaluate your company's performance in China as well as in the global market in 2021?

2021 was certainly another challenging year due to the impact from COVID-19. Parts of our business were particularly affected, such as running large in-person events. It has also been impossible for our global analysts to travel to meet clients in China. In contrast, as a leading research company, we get unique opportunities to help IT vendors, IT buyers and investors to understand the new market dynamics; helping them to set up new strategies during this difficult time. By highly leveraging technology, we are expecting to end 2021 with healthy growth.

Q2: Do you plan to deepen your company's footprint in China next year? If so, how?

The 14th Five-Year Plan from the Chinese government has given clear direction for the development of China's digital economy and digital transformation. The unique market analysis provided by IDC China will continue to develop, becoming more timely and flexible as we grow. IDC Global is building a new knowledge platform to connect the dots between IT Vendors, Channel partners, and IT Buyers. Emerging technology, vertical industrials and ESG (that is Environmental, Social, and Governance businesses) are the key areas that IDC are focusing their research efforts in 2022 and beyond. We have also developed a new video-based platform (ARENA) to provide research in the form of short videos that are easier for everyone to understand, as well as to better visualize how technology will create the future enterprise. We are also going to extend our Shenzhen office to respond to our clients more rapidly.

Q3: How do you rate China's economic performance in 2021?

China is the country with the best COVID strategy. The impact of the pandemic on the economy is less than we see in other regions. The monetary and fiscal policies introduced by the government are also conducive to economic development. We expect that China's economy will grow by about 8 percent in 2021, which should be the fastest of any developing country in the world.

Q4: What are your views on the improvements in China's business environment in 2021, and what are your expectations for further reform and opening-up?

In 2021, China's overall business environment moved in a healthy direction, intellectual property protection strengthened, and laws related to cyber security, data protection, and other related laws were introduced, which will have a particular impact on parts of the economy in the short term, but which will be very conducive to the improvement of the overall business environment in the long run, thereby narrowing the digital divide and supporting sustainable development.

Q5: What are your forecasts of China and the global economic performance in 2022?

There is still some uncertainty around the overall environment in 2022, with mixed impacts on China's economy including tailwinds and crosswinds.

Tailwinds including strong consumer demand (especially for digital products and services) remain. Excellent digital infrastructure coverage in China and around the world supports accelerating digital innovation, and government programs and initiatives will continue to stimulate the economy.

Crosswinds include changing stakeholder expectations, increasing digital sovereignty, increasing cybersecurity and privacy protection, and continuing disruption and restructuring of the industry ecosystem. IDC predicts that the global and Chinese economies are still recovering to their longer-term growth in 2022, with global GDP growth of about 4.3 percent and China's GDP growth of about 5.3 percent.